The Luxury Travel Magazine
The Luxury Travel Magazine
Ever walked home on a night with your neck craned to the sky as you gaze in wonderment at the distant solar systems and galaxies above you? It’s certainly something most of us have done, and while that experience often comes with a flood of existential questions about why we’re here and who may be out there, you might have simply thought ‘Wow, I’d really like to do this properly some time…”
The good news is stargazing doesn’t require a bunch of expensive equipment (although that can help) or for you to be an expert astronomer. Often, you just need to be in the right place, which is where our guide to the best destinations for stargazing might just come in handy.
As per its website, the International Dark Sky Places (IDSP) program “certifies communities, parks, and protected areas around the world that preserve and protect dark sites through responsible lighting policies and public education”.
What exactly does that mean? Well, DarkSky (the guys who run the program) believe the night sky and nocturnal environment carry a huge amount of natural, cultural and historical value, and as such has declared over 200 locations across 22 countries and more than 160,000 square kilometres worthy of conservation.
All of these locations are welcome for you to visit and begin your stargazing journey – indeed many of them are right here in the States. You can find your nearest IDSP here.
Of course, not everybody is close enough to a certified stargazing paradise to easily get to one, in which case you can go for the next best thing: your nearest off-the-grid area. What do we mean by off-the-grid? Well, quite literally any area that’s as absent of light as possible will offer you a decent base to see the stars in all their glory.
Try a local camping trip for starters. You should be able to find a reasonably remote area where it’s just you and the universe above you to take in.
Want to take your stargazing adventures to the next level? Many of the best nighttime skylines in the world are based in some of the best countries from a holiday perspective, so you could always double up your starry exploration with a great vacation. Some of the world’s best nocturnal environments include:
Current estimates suggest there are approximately 200 billion trillion stars in our universe, so isn’t it time you got looking? Whether you’ve got a grand trip planned to one of the world’s top locations or simply plan to lie outside your house on the grass one evening, there are few more unique ways to connect with the universe than to simply take a look above.
